San Antonio College Library

"A singular development of the post Cold-War era is the use of military force to protect human beings. From Rwanda to Kosovo, Sierra Leone to East Timor, soldiers have rescued civilians in some of the world's most notorious war zones. Drawing on two decades of research, Thomas G. Weiss provides a compelling introduction to the theory and practice of humanitarian intervention in the modern world. He examines political, ethical, legal, strategic, economic,...

Argues that author and humanitarian Greg Mortenson, noted for his campaign to open schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan, has not been truthful about his past, his reasons for opening schools, or his abduction by the Taliban.

"Is it possible and worthwhile to use the military in conjunction with humanitarian action to thwart violence and mitigate civilian suffering? This timely book seeks to answer this question by looking at the contemporary context and history of military-civilian interactions, developing a framework for assessing military costs and civilian benefits, and examining in depth the five most prominent cases -- Northern Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and...

The principle of the lesser evil--the acceptability of pursuing one exceptional course of action in order to prevent a greater injustice--has long been a cornerstone of Western ethical philosophy. From its roots in classical ethics and Christian theology, to Hannah Arendt's exploration of the work of the Jewish Councils during the Nazi regime, the author explores its development in three key transformations of the problem: the defining intervention...

Timely and controversial, A Bed for the Night reveals how humanitarian organizations trying to bring relief in an ever more violent and dangerous world are often betrayed and misused, and have increasingly lost sight of their purpose. Humanitarian relief workers, writes David Rieff, are the last of the just. And in the Bosnias, the Rwandas, and the Afghanistans of this world, humanitarianism remains the vocation of helping people when they most desperately...

Writing from the front lines of the hot wars of the post-Cold War world -- the Balkans, Africa, the Middle East, and most recently Afghanistan and Iraq for The New York Times Magazine -- Rieff witnessed firsthand most of the armed interventions waged in the name of human rights and democratization. His report is anything but reassuring. In this collection of articles, Rieff, one of our leading experts on the subject, reassesses some of his own judgments...